Industrial target aims for embedded control

The xPC TargetBox is an industrial PC hardware system that complements The MathWorks' model-based design solution to meet the need for rapid control prototyping for embedded systems development.

The xPC TargetBox is an industrial PC hardware system that complements The MathWorks' model-based design solution to meet the critical need for rapid control prototyping for embedded systems development.

xPC TargetBox removes the burden of selecting and assembling PC hardware and provides designers a convenient, real-time testing system that for the first time offers a ruggedised, high-performance, desktop prototyping capability for designers of embedded systems.

"With xPC TargetBox, The MathWorks continues to offer valuable tools that effectively lower the customers' barrier to getting started quickly to develop real-time rapid prototyping applications", said Dr Jerry Krasner, Vice President, Embedded Market Forecasts.

"xPC TargetBox will improve product design and reliability and, most importantly, will shorten the time to market for embedded systems".

The MathWorks has signed an exclusive contract with MPL AG of Switzerland to manufacture the xPC TargetBox hardware systems.

MPL is an established manufacturer of industrial PC systems.

Three standard temperature and three extended temperature models of xPC TargetBox are available, together with a versatile selection of I/O boards to satisfy the needs of many customers for real-time rapid prototyping applications.

xPC TargetBox uses a custom PC motherboard and is configured to access a variety of PC-104 I/O boards for cost-effective analogue, digital, counter, PWM, incremental encoder and CAN interfacing.

"The addition of xPC TargetBox to our arsenal of products clearly reinforces The MathWorks as a leader in providing embedded systems designers with a turnkey, end-to-end capability for control design, simulation, and rapid prototyping", said Michael Dickens, Technical Marketing Manager at The MathWorks.

"We expect the breadth of our model-based design offering, combined with this high performance, desktop rapid prototyping system, will accelerate embedded systems design and ultimately the completion of the target application".

The MathWorks has also released a new version of its host-target prototyping software environment, xPC Target 2, which offers important new features for embedded systems design.

xPC Target 2 features a new host user interface for remote control access with downloading, starting, stopping and data logging capabilities of real-time applications.

In addition the new version includes an enhanced signal tracing engine that provides designers with continuous and gap-free upload of acquired data.

Furthermore, xPC Target 2 features an improved parameter tuning engine and a highly expanded I/O driver library for over 150 I/O boards.

"Using xPC Target enabled us to use inexpensive, readily available, off-the-shelf PC/104 CPU and I/O hardware to accelerate our hybrid electric product development programme", said Richard Nellums, of Eaton Corporation.

"Without xPC Target, it would have been difficult to build and demonstrate this particular hybrid vehicle within the tight time constraints we had".

Eaton first used xPC Target to develop a new controller for a prototype hybrid electric truck powertrain in less than one year.

Eaton has also used xPC Target to design a real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulation system for testing prototype powertrain control units before installing them in actual hybrid vehicles.

Eaton expects the close linkage of xPC Target with Matlab and Simulink engineering tools to allow it to streamline its product development efforts with key suppliers and OEM customers.

The combination of xPC Target and xPC TargetBox provides a turnkey PC-based computer system for use in real-time rapid prototyping applications for automotive and aerospace control design, industrial automation, robotics and motion controls, among other applications.

This cost-effective integrated capability is particularly well suited for users who need a "jump start" to quickly implement a rapid prototyping capability to extend their model-based design environment.

Both products support the Simulink dynamic system model-based design product set.

Code generated from Simulink models with Real-Time Workshop is executed in real time using the xPC Target real-time kernel.

xPC TargetBox will begin shipping in July, 2002.

US list prices start at $5700.

xPC Target 2 software, which will start shipping in August, is available for Windows systems and has a US list price of $4000.

(This was Engineeringtalk's Top Story on 26 June 2002).

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